"It's a Beautiful Thing" is a

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

song A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usu ...

Ocean Colour Scene Ocean Colour Scene (often abbreviated to OCS) is an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1989. They have had five top 10 albums, including a number one in 1997. They have also achieved seventeen top 40 singles and six top 10 singles to d ...

with

P. P. Arnold Patricia Ann Cole (born October 3, 1946), known professionally as P. P. Arnold, is an American-born British-based soul music, soul singer. She began her career in 1965 as an The Ikettes, Ikette with the Ike & Tina Turner Revue. The following yea ...

. The song was released in 1998 and reached number 12 in the UK Singles Chart. It is taken from their 1997 chart-topping album '' Marchin' Already'' and was the fourth and final single to be released from the album, following " Hundred Mile High City", " Travellers Tune" and " Better Day". By not reaching the Top 10, the song broke the chain formed by the previous six singles which had all reached the Top 10. The band have never reached the Top 10 since. The lyrics are understood to be about

Simon Fowler Simon Geoffrey Fowler (born 25 May 1965) is an English singer, best known as the frontman of Ocean Colour Scene. The Fanatics Simon Fowler commenced his music career as the lead singer and songwriter for Birmingham band The Fanatics, which cons ...

's (aka Sonny's) personal difficulties in coming out as

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

. The title is a reference to the 1993 play and 1996 film '' Beautiful Thing''.

Love Love is a feeling of strong attraction and emotional attachment (psychology), attachment to a person, animal, or thing. It is expressed in many forms, encompassing a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most su ...

is the "beautiful thing", but Fowler also laments that it can be a "terrible thing".

already guested on OCS' previous single " Travellers Tune".

Track listing

# "It's a Beautiful Thing" # "Mariners Way" # "Going Nowhere for a While" # "Expensive Chair" {{Authority control Ocean Colour Scene songs 1998 singles Gay-related songs